If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen this hashtag: #privatechefmonday.

My best friend, a chef, created it to capture our Monday nights — her only night off from her Scottsdale restaurant. Most Mondays, she comes to my house and we cook together.

It’s very low key. The only other person allowed to attend this private gathering is my husband. As you can imagine, he is the most enthusiastic supporter of our weekly event. She would like me to point out that it was my husband who coined the term “Private Chef Monday,” but she posted it as a hashtag, so I give them both credit.

Sometimes I cook everything, sometimes she cooks everything, and sometimes we both cook. We might cook out of cookbooks we own — both of us have a serious cookbook habit — or we might just cook by the seat of our pants.

Last night’s #privatechefmonday was so simple and delicious, so easy to pull together, I thought I’d share the recipes.

Charleen is a vegetarian, so usually we plan a menu around vegetables. I found a potato and green chile stew recipe on the Food52 cooking site from Deborah Madison. Deborah is a friend of Charleen’s, and even came to her restaurant for a lunch to celebrate her “Vegetable Literacy” book launch. I knew this recipe would be a) simple, b) something my friend would love, and c) quick and easy, save roasting the chiles.

To me, stew and cornbread go hand in hand, plus my husband is a serious cornbread fan. I chose Sean Brock’s Cracklin’ Cornbread recipe from his book “Heritage,” but made a major adjustment — I dropped the “cracklin,” aka bacon, and replaced it with butter so it would fit the vegetarian theme.

First, I doubled the recipe. And I roasted the chiles the day before to save time.

I started with whole cumin and coriander seeds, toasted them on the stovetop and then ground them in a coffee grinder I have dedicated as my spice grinder. I also used a bit more of each spice than what she calls for, and I added an extra garlic clove, even after doubling the recipe.

I squeezed about a tablespoon or so of lime juice into the soup just before serving, and I garnished it with another lime wedge for each person. It really needs a bit of acid to brighten it up.

I crumbled a couple chiltepins (small dried chiles) into the soup for a little spice since my poblanos were so mild.

Now for the cornbread, here is Sean’s recipe, adapted to make it vegetarian and husband friendly — my husband likes his cornbread on the sweet side, oddly, considering he is a true Southerner, and it’s usually Yankees who put sugar in cornbread, but we aim to please here on #privatechefmonday. I encourage you to develop a similar tradition, your own version of #privatechefmonday — cooking with your best friend — and sharing the fruits of your labor on social media.

Slightly Sweet Cornbread

Recipe Type: breads

Author: adapted from Sean Brock

I love Sean Brock’s Cracklin’ Cornbread, but I wanted to make it vegetarian friendly and I wanted it to be a little sweet, so I took out the bacon, replacing it with butter, and I added a little sugar. It still gets that fantastic, crunchy crust, from heating the skillet in the oven while you mix the batter.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

2 cups cornmeal, preferably medium to coarse grind

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1-1/2 cups low fat or whole buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

Heat the oven to 450 degrees (425 if convection).

Place the vegetable oil in a 9-inch cast iron skillet and put the skillet in the oven to heat while you mix the batter.

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[…] my sweet, beautiful sister-in-law’s idea. I was going to cook for my best friend on our next #privatechefmonday, and was thinking out loud about what to cook. My brother and SIL were visiting for Thanksgiving, […]

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